Give your rabbit a lovely home

Flemish giant rabbits Ebenezer, Belle and Fezziwig arrived at our Blue Cross rehoming centre in Burford shortly before Christmas 2014 and were named after characters from Charles Dickenss popular ghostly tale A Christmas Carol.
They are albino rabbits and have very poor eyesight.

An ideal way to house your rabbits is in a spacious hutch such as a small shed or Wendy house construction. You can then put up a fence, either completely surrounding the hutch or continuing its two outer sides, to provide a permanent run area.

In this way you can spend time with your rabbits safely and comfortably, whatever the weather!

Generally, rabbits dislike being picked up off the ground, as they are prey animals and need to feel able to get away when necessary. They are, however, social creatures and there will be ideal situations for you to spend time happily interacting with your companions.

Hutches

A hutch should be raised off the floor to allow air to circulate and prevent surface water being absorbed into the floor. It should have a waterproof roof, but please be aware that hutches become hot during the summer months and should be sited in a shady position.

The hutch must be secure against any predators, but you must also guard against your rabbits getting out. For this reason, bolt fastenings are better than turn buttons etc as they cannot be opened accidentally.

Wire floors are not considered a suitable surface since sore feet can quickly develop, and overlaying a wooden floor with wire makes cleaning difficult.

If you obtain a second-hand hutch, please scrub it out thoroughly with a recommen-ded animal cage cleaner. This must be done some days before you expect to house new rabbits, as the timber must be allowed to dry properly before you prepare the hutch for its new occupants.

No hutch can be too large, in fact the bigger the better! The minimum hutch size for small or large rabbits is 183cm x 90cm floor space, by 90cm tall. If your rabbits are of differing sizes, please provide the sort of hutch and run in which the largest will be comfortable. They need to be able to stretch out lengthways, hop around, and stand up on their hind legs, otherwise they may experience skeletal aches and pains from being too cramped.

There should be at least two rooms in your hutch. The main hutch area should have a wire front and be spacious enough for your rabbits to hop around. Their food should be kept to this area and, if they toilet there, a litter tray could be placed in an appropriate corner, space permitting. A sleeping area with access onto the main hutch should have solid walls and a door where your rabbits can retreat and relax with some privacy.

Outside runs

Ideally a run should be attached to the hutch so that the rabbits can choose whether to be in or outdoors. The run should be as spacious as possible to allow the rabbit’s to hop, jump, and have total freedom of movement. We recommend that the minimum size for two rabbits is at least 8ft (244cm) by 8ft (244cm). It needs to be secure (this includes the underside) as a rabbit’s natural behaviour is to dig. Equally importantly, it must be kept safe from predators at all times. Fresh water must always be available both inside the hutch and outside in the run.

Cleaning

Your rabbits’ health depends a great deal on their environment, and a daily cleaning regime is really important. You will soon get to know where your rabbits like to toilet and this area can be underlaid with newspaper to provide not only more absorbency, but also ease of cleaning. Some rabbits use litter trays (these should be large enough for the rabbit to get its whole body into) and various substrates are available. Daily removal of any faeces and wet or soiled bedding is important. Any underlying newspaper should be replaced.

How much time your rabbits spend in their hutch will dictate how often you should give it a total clean but try to salvage a little of their unsoiled bedding to replace afterwards, so that the place still smells of home! Spilled food or uneaten fruit or vegetables should be removed daily, but any uneaten food in your rabbits’ bowl should be mixed in with fresh food unless it is contaminated with bed-ding, faeces or otherwise inedible.

Rabbits kept in dirty hutches are susceptible to snuffles (a respiratory illness), sore feet, urine scalding and, most importantly, dirty bottoms – which can easily result in fly strike. The eggs of the fly are laid in the surrounding area and, within approximately 12 hours, can hatch into maggots which will invade the rabbit’s body.

Once this process is underway the condition is often fatal, so regular chec-king of your rabbit’s bottom is absolutely vital, especially during the warmer summer months. Please take your vet’s advice about the best sort of preventative treatments, and never assume that your rabbit is healthy if you have not actually checked that day.

Company

Rabbits are naturally sociable, so they need companionship of their own kind. They will be much happier living in pairs or compatible groups, and will become very lonely if kept on their own.

It is easiest if rabbits are kept together from birth, but rabbits less than 12 weeks old will usually live together happily. The best combina-tion is a neutered male and a neutered female. Two litter brothers or two litter sisters will also get on well, but it is important that they are both neutered to prevent fighting.

Happy rabbit relationships

If you have a single rabbit that you would like to pair with another rabbit, it is good to bear in mind the following information when introducing them to each other.

There are two main ways of introducing an unrelated male and female pair, and it will depend on how much space you have and the character of the rabbits as to which you decide to try. Whichever way you choose, it is important to follow five golden rules:

Do not try to pair adult rabbits that are not neutered, regardless of sex. Neutering has many bene-fits. However, if the female rabbit is not a suitable candidate for spaying, she could still be paired with a neutered male. In this case, it is important to wait three weeks after he is castrated before they are introduced, to ensure that he can no longer produce viable sperm.

Also avoid breeding season if pairing an un-neutered female and a neutered male, as her raised hormone levels will make the introduction difficult.

It is advisable to choose rabbits of the same age and size. Also consider the rabbits’ personalities; two very confident and strong spirited rabbits may not be compatible.

Start the introduction early on in the day, so that you have the whole day to supervise their interactions.